Guess you're forgetting all about McCain. The Republicans have the same bad luck as Dems or the Dems had their hero as the Republicans do this time around.
When I read The Times report, I did immediately reach out to my Senators Markey and Warren, and Rep Stephen Lynch. I asked them to kill the reconciliation bill. I would be tempted to urge killing the infrastructure bill, too, but in the dust of recent negotiations, I'm afraid there may be a bit of climate mitigation and climate adaptation there, so am reticent.
The point is I'm sure the reconciliation bill contained things which others wanted, including Republications. And if it can be trashed, now that there's nothing in it that's as important, those should be trashed, too, so no one gets what they want.
And Biden and company reached out to labor, too, even if they aren't as influential as they once were.
I think there was a hope that a big infrastructure and reconciliation would bring enough goods to the people that supported the last President and his odd fellows. Well, apparently not, and if this leaves the Dems in poor electoral shape, it should be noted they weren't in great shape to begin with.
Now the remaining hope is that enough investment from Big Wind corporations and from automakers will be made so if a future administration tries to reverse that, there'll be howls from big business.
Doesn't help cutting back on emissions, though. Maybe it will take the U.S. being deemed an international pariah state before anything happens. Or have Carbon duties imposed on its products. And especially its military operations.
Thanks Bill for your candid assessment and your continuing passion and leadership for Climate Justice. I was saddened when I read that NYT article yesterday. My hope is that the Third Act can be so organized to influence the pulling of effective Levers in the Political world as well as in the Corporate & Financial worlds. I think there has to be a careful mix of both idealism and pragmatism for an effective Climate Justice Movement / Organization.
I don't blame Biden, I blame Schumer. He's done nothing to evangelize climate change with the public (or voting rights or expansion of Medicare or reduced prescription drug prices) or, really, anything. His unbelievable failure to secure additional Senate seats in 2020 (via poor messaging and poorer candidates) set the stage for our hellscape. As usual, the US will have to be staring down the barrel of utter catastrophe before we'll take meaningful action...at which time, people will wring their hands in anguish asking why someone didn't do something while there was time.
That is to say, ownership is altogether His. As for you, you are both His property, you are owned by Him, and you work in His property. This phrase announces the following joyful and healing news:
O man! Do not suppose that you own yourself, for you have no control over any of the things that concern you; such a load would be heavy. Also, you are unable to protect yourself, to avoid disasters, or to do the things that you must. In which case, do not suffer pain and torment without reason, the ownership is another’s. The Owner is both All-Powerful and All-Merciful; rely on His power and do not cast aspersions on His mercy! Put grief behind you, be joyful! Discard your troubles and find serenity!
It also says: You love and are connected to the universe, which is the property of the All-Powerful and Merciful One, yet although it grieves you by its wretchedness, you are unable to put it right. So hand over the property to its Owner, leave it to Him. Attract His pleasure, not His harshness. He is both All-Wise and All-Merciful. He has free disposal over His property and administers it as He wishes.
THE FIFTH PHRASE: “His is the praise”
Praise, laudation, and acclaim are proper to Him, are fitting for Him. That is to say, bounties are His; they come from His treasury. And as for the treasury, it is unending. This phrase, therefore, delivers the following good news:
O man! Do not suffer and sorrow when bounties cease, for the treasury of mercy is inexhaustible. Do not dwell on the fleeting nature of pleasure and cry out with pain, because the fruit of the bounty is the fruit of a boundless mercy. Since its tree is undying, when the fruit finishes it is replaced by more. If you thankfully think of there being within the pleasure of the bounty a merciful favour a hundred times more pleasurable, you will be able to increase the pleasure a hundredfold.
An apple an august monarch presents to you holds a pleasure superior to that of a hundred, indeed a thousand, apples, for it is he that has bestowed it on you and made you experience the pleasure of a royal favour. In the same way, through the phrase “His is the praise” will be opened to you the door of a spiritual pleasure a thousand times sweeter than the bounty itself.
For the phrase means to offer praise and thanks; that is to say, to perceive the bestowal of bounty. This in turn means to recognize the Bestower, which is to reflect on the bestowal of bounty, and so finally to ponder over the favour of His compassion and His continuing to bestow bounties.
THE SIXTH PHRASE: “He alone grants life”
That is to say, He is the giver of life. And it is He who causes life to continue by means of sustenance. He also supplies the necessities of life. And it is to Him that the exalted aims of life pertain and its important results look, and His are ninety-nine out of a hundred of its fruits. Thus, this phrase calls out in this way to ephemeral, impotent man, it makes this joyful announcement:
O man! Do not trouble yourself by shouldering the heavy burdens of life. Do not think of the transience of life and start grieving. Do not see only its worldly and unimportant fruits and regret that you came to this world. For the life-machine in the ship of your being belongs to the Ever-Living and Self-Subsistent One, and it is He who provides for all its expenses and requirements. Also, your life has a great many aims and results, and they pertain to Him, too.
As for you, you are just a helmsman on the ship, so do your duty well and take the wage and pleasure that come with it. Think of just how precious is the life-ship and how valuable its benefits; then think of just how Generous and Merciful is the Owner of the ship. So rejoice and give thanks and know that when you perform your duty with integrity, all the results the ship produces will in one respect be transferred to the register of your actions, that they will secure an immortal life for you, will endow you with eternal life.
THE EIGHTH PHRASE: “And He is living and dies not”
That is to say, the Possessor of a beauty, perfection, and munificence that are infinitely superior to the beauty, perfection, and munificence to be seen in the creatures of the universe, and that arouse love; and an Eternal Object of Worship, an Everlasting Beloved, a single manifestation of whose beauty is sufficent to replace all other beloveds, has an enduring life through pre-eternity and post-eternity – a life free from any trace of cessation or ephemerality and exempt from any fault, defect, or imperfection. Thus, this phrase proclaims to jinn and man, to all conscious beings, and the people of love and ardour:
Here is good news for you! There exists an Everlasting Beloved who will cure and bind the wounds caused you by countless separations from the ones you love. Since He exists and is undying, whatever happens do not fret over the others. Furthermore, the beauty and generosity, virtue and perfection to be seen in them, the cause of your love, are, passing through many veils, the shadows of the palest of shadows of the manifestation of the Ever-Enduring Beloved’s ever-enduring beauty. Do not grieve at their disappearance, for they are mirrors of a sort. The mirrors being changed renews and embellishes the manifestation of the Beauty’s radiance. Since He exists, everything exists.”
…
The Tenth Word
FIRST POINT
We shall indicate, as a measure, only four out of hundreds of proofs that belief in the hereafter is fundamental to the life of society and to man’s personal life, and is the basis of his happiness, prosperity, and achievement.
T h e F i r s t : It is only with the thought of Paradise that children, who form almost a half of mankind, can endure all the deaths around them, which appear to them to be grievous and frightening, and strengthen the morale of their weak and delicate beings. Through Paradise they find hope in their vulnerable spirits, prone to weeping, and may live happily. For example, with the thought of Paradise, one may say: “My little brother or friend has died and become a bird in Paradise. He is flying around Paradise and living more happily than us.” The frequent deaths before their unhappy eyes of other children like themselves or of grown-ups will otherwise destroy all their resistance and morale, making their subtle faculties like their spirits, hearts, and minds weep in addition to their eyes; they will either decline utterly or become crazy, wretched animals.
S e c o n d P r o o f : It is only through the life of the hereafter that the elderly, who form half of mankind, can endure the proximity of the grave, and be consoled at the thought that their lives, to which they are firmly attached, will soon be extinguished and their fine worlds come to an end. It is only at the hope of eternal life that they can respond to the grievous despair they feel in their emotional child-like spirits at the thought of death. Those worthy, anxious fathers and mothers, so deserving of compassion and in need of tranquillity and peace of mind, will otherwise feel a terrible spiritual turmoil and distress in their hearts, and this world will become a dark prison for them, and life even, grievous torment.
F o u r t h P r o o f : The most comprehensive centre of man’s worldly life, and its mainspring, and a paradise, refuge, and fortress of worldly happiness, is the life of the family. Everyone’s home is a small world for him. And the life and happiness of his home and family are possible through genuine, earnest, and loyal respect and true, tender, and self-sacrificing compassion. This true respect and genuine kindness may be achieved with the idea of the members of the family having an everlasting companionship and friendship and togetherness, and their parental, filial, brotherly, and friendly relations continuing for all eternity in a limitless life, and their believing this. One says, for example: “My wife will be my constant companion in an everlasting world and eternal life. It does not matter if she is now old and ugly, for she will have an immortal beauty.” He will tell himself that he will be as kind and devoted as he can for the sake of that permanent companionship, and treat his elderly wife lovingly and kindly. A companionship that was to end in eternal separation after an hour or two of brief, apparent friendship would otherwise afford only superficial, temporary, feigned, animal-like feelings, and false compassion and artificial respect. As with animals, self-interest and other overpowering emotions would prevail over the respect and compassion, transforming that worldly paradise into Hell.
The sociologists, politicians, and moralists, who govern mankind and are concerned with its social and moral questions should be aware of this! How do they propose to fill this vacuum? With what can they cure these deep wounds?
…
FOURTH TRUTH
The Gate of Generosity and Beauty,
the Manifestation of the Names of Generous and Beautiful
I don't care about McCain or Republicans or Democrats. Greenhouse gas emissions need to stop. To have a respectable standard of living we need to electrify and power it with wind, solar, water, and st9rage. And it increasingly looks like the United States Constitution as amended and interpreted is incapable of solving this problem or the several others that are plaguing the people of the United States in the 21st century.
How 'bout proposing scaling the Build Back Better bill down from $3.5T to $1.5T just by scaling it back from ten years to four years, keeping all the provisions in place, thus at least getting it started and allowing the people to decide whether to cut it, extend it, or expand it?
The problem is Manchin makes his fortune off of coal - roughly $500K/yr. He doesn't want anything that interferes with the way friends, family, and big contributors, make their money.
"Your continuing reminder that Biden could issue a slew of executive orders and regulations that completely fuck up the coal industry, say he’d be happy to sign a bill that fixes it, and FAR more than one Senator would smile and say “well gosh, I just don’t wanna vote for that”
"That Biden didn’t try—by all accounts his team has worked tirelessly to win Manchin’s support."
What accounts? Manchin sitting in the oval office and telling Biden to shove it?
We've heard from Manchin that no pressure was placed on him. We heard earlier in the year that no achievement was more important to the WH for future electoral success than bipartisan economic legislation (BIF). This strategy empowered Manchin and other conservative Dem senators to go as far to the right as they pleased and made BBB a stepchild.
Our best hope is to threaten Biden and the Dems with loss at the polls. Why make excuses for them?
What is immediately threatening the Democratic party is broken promises to voters, the appearance of corruption and weakness in the face of rising fascism. By permitting those threats to its own power it has increased the chances that the descent into climate catastrophe will be largely managed (i.e. accelerated and exploited) by the far right.
Sheesh, it’s hard to be hopeful some days. Thank you for carrying the torch.
Thank you. This is difficult news indeed. Thanks for helping us process it in such a clear-eyed way.
How is that the Republican's can have such strong party voting and the Dem's can't pressure these two twits to do the right thing?
McKibben asking us to back off Biden doesn't help.
Huh. Having been arrested outside the WH (checks notes) Wednesday, I am not advocating backing off anyone.
I thank you for that effort! I am happy to hear that I have misinterpreted you.
no worries. good to keep pushing!
Guess you're forgetting all about McCain. The Republicans have the same bad luck as Dems or the Dems had their hero as the Republicans do this time around.
When I read The Times report, I did immediately reach out to my Senators Markey and Warren, and Rep Stephen Lynch. I asked them to kill the reconciliation bill. I would be tempted to urge killing the infrastructure bill, too, but in the dust of recent negotiations, I'm afraid there may be a bit of climate mitigation and climate adaptation there, so am reticent.
The point is I'm sure the reconciliation bill contained things which others wanted, including Republications. And if it can be trashed, now that there's nothing in it that's as important, those should be trashed, too, so no one gets what they want.
And Biden and company reached out to labor, too, even if they aren't as influential as they once were.
I think there was a hope that a big infrastructure and reconciliation would bring enough goods to the people that supported the last President and his odd fellows. Well, apparently not, and if this leaves the Dems in poor electoral shape, it should be noted they weren't in great shape to begin with.
Now the remaining hope is that enough investment from Big Wind corporations and from automakers will be made so if a future administration tries to reverse that, there'll be howls from big business.
Doesn't help cutting back on emissions, though. Maybe it will take the U.S. being deemed an international pariah state before anything happens. Or have Carbon duties imposed on its products. And especially its military operations.
Sorry "Republications" --> "Republicans". (Where's the post edit button?)
Thanks Bill for your candid assessment and your continuing passion and leadership for Climate Justice. I was saddened when I read that NYT article yesterday. My hope is that the Third Act can be so organized to influence the pulling of effective Levers in the Political world as well as in the Corporate & Financial worlds. I think there has to be a careful mix of both idealism and pragmatism for an effective Climate Justice Movement / Organization.
I don't blame Biden, I blame Schumer. He's done nothing to evangelize climate change with the public (or voting rights or expansion of Medicare or reduced prescription drug prices) or, really, anything. His unbelievable failure to secure additional Senate seats in 2020 (via poor messaging and poorer candidates) set the stage for our hellscape. As usual, the US will have to be staring down the barrel of utter catastrophe before we'll take meaningful action...at which time, people will wring their hands in anguish asking why someone didn't do something while there was time.
THE FOURTH PHRASE: “His is the dominion”
That is to say, ownership is altogether His. As for you, you are both His property, you are owned by Him, and you work in His property. This phrase announces the following joyful and healing news:
O man! Do not suppose that you own yourself, for you have no control over any of the things that concern you; such a load would be heavy. Also, you are unable to protect yourself, to avoid disasters, or to do the things that you must. In which case, do not suffer pain and torment without reason, the ownership is another’s. The Owner is both All-Powerful and All-Merciful; rely on His power and do not cast aspersions on His mercy! Put grief behind you, be joyful! Discard your troubles and find serenity!
It also says: You love and are connected to the universe, which is the property of the All-Powerful and Merciful One, yet although it grieves you by its wretchedness, you are unable to put it right. So hand over the property to its Owner, leave it to Him. Attract His pleasure, not His harshness. He is both All-Wise and All-Merciful. He has free disposal over His property and administers it as He wishes.
THE FIFTH PHRASE: “His is the praise”
Praise, laudation, and acclaim are proper to Him, are fitting for Him. That is to say, bounties are His; they come from His treasury. And as for the treasury, it is unending. This phrase, therefore, delivers the following good news:
O man! Do not suffer and sorrow when bounties cease, for the treasury of mercy is inexhaustible. Do not dwell on the fleeting nature of pleasure and cry out with pain, because the fruit of the bounty is the fruit of a boundless mercy. Since its tree is undying, when the fruit finishes it is replaced by more. If you thankfully think of there being within the pleasure of the bounty a merciful favour a hundred times more pleasurable, you will be able to increase the pleasure a hundredfold.
An apple an august monarch presents to you holds a pleasure superior to that of a hundred, indeed a thousand, apples, for it is he that has bestowed it on you and made you experience the pleasure of a royal favour. In the same way, through the phrase “His is the praise” will be opened to you the door of a spiritual pleasure a thousand times sweeter than the bounty itself.
For the phrase means to offer praise and thanks; that is to say, to perceive the bestowal of bounty. This in turn means to recognize the Bestower, which is to reflect on the bestowal of bounty, and so finally to ponder over the favour of His compassion and His continuing to bestow bounties.
THE SIXTH PHRASE: “He alone grants life”
That is to say, He is the giver of life. And it is He who causes life to continue by means of sustenance. He also supplies the necessities of life. And it is to Him that the exalted aims of life pertain and its important results look, and His are ninety-nine out of a hundred of its fruits. Thus, this phrase calls out in this way to ephemeral, impotent man, it makes this joyful announcement:
O man! Do not trouble yourself by shouldering the heavy burdens of life. Do not think of the transience of life and start grieving. Do not see only its worldly and unimportant fruits and regret that you came to this world. For the life-machine in the ship of your being belongs to the Ever-Living and Self-Subsistent One, and it is He who provides for all its expenses and requirements. Also, your life has a great many aims and results, and they pertain to Him, too.
As for you, you are just a helmsman on the ship, so do your duty well and take the wage and pleasure that come with it. Think of just how precious is the life-ship and how valuable its benefits; then think of just how Generous and Merciful is the Owner of the ship. So rejoice and give thanks and know that when you perform your duty with integrity, all the results the ship produces will in one respect be transferred to the register of your actions, that they will secure an immortal life for you, will endow you with eternal life.
THE EIGHTH PHRASE: “And He is living and dies not”
That is to say, the Possessor of a beauty, perfection, and munificence that are infinitely superior to the beauty, perfection, and munificence to be seen in the creatures of the universe, and that arouse love; and an Eternal Object of Worship, an Everlasting Beloved, a single manifestation of whose beauty is sufficent to replace all other beloveds, has an enduring life through pre-eternity and post-eternity – a life free from any trace of cessation or ephemerality and exempt from any fault, defect, or imperfection. Thus, this phrase proclaims to jinn and man, to all conscious beings, and the people of love and ardour:
Here is good news for you! There exists an Everlasting Beloved who will cure and bind the wounds caused you by countless separations from the ones you love. Since He exists and is undying, whatever happens do not fret over the others. Furthermore, the beauty and generosity, virtue and perfection to be seen in them, the cause of your love, are, passing through many veils, the shadows of the palest of shadows of the manifestation of the Ever-Enduring Beloved’s ever-enduring beauty. Do not grieve at their disappearance, for they are mirrors of a sort. The mirrors being changed renews and embellishes the manifestation of the Beauty’s radiance. Since He exists, everything exists.”
…
The Tenth Word
FIRST POINT
We shall indicate, as a measure, only four out of hundreds of proofs that belief in the hereafter is fundamental to the life of society and to man’s personal life, and is the basis of his happiness, prosperity, and achievement.
T h e F i r s t : It is only with the thought of Paradise that children, who form almost a half of mankind, can endure all the deaths around them, which appear to them to be grievous and frightening, and strengthen the morale of their weak and delicate beings. Through Paradise they find hope in their vulnerable spirits, prone to weeping, and may live happily. For example, with the thought of Paradise, one may say: “My little brother or friend has died and become a bird in Paradise. He is flying around Paradise and living more happily than us.” The frequent deaths before their unhappy eyes of other children like themselves or of grown-ups will otherwise destroy all their resistance and morale, making their subtle faculties like their spirits, hearts, and minds weep in addition to their eyes; they will either decline utterly or become crazy, wretched animals.
S e c o n d P r o o f : It is only through the life of the hereafter that the elderly, who form half of mankind, can endure the proximity of the grave, and be consoled at the thought that their lives, to which they are firmly attached, will soon be extinguished and their fine worlds come to an end. It is only at the hope of eternal life that they can respond to the grievous despair they feel in their emotional child-like spirits at the thought of death. Those worthy, anxious fathers and mothers, so deserving of compassion and in need of tranquillity and peace of mind, will otherwise feel a terrible spiritual turmoil and distress in their hearts, and this world will become a dark prison for them, and life even, grievous torment.
F o u r t h P r o o f : The most comprehensive centre of man’s worldly life, and its mainspring, and a paradise, refuge, and fortress of worldly happiness, is the life of the family. Everyone’s home is a small world for him. And the life and happiness of his home and family are possible through genuine, earnest, and loyal respect and true, tender, and self-sacrificing compassion. This true respect and genuine kindness may be achieved with the idea of the members of the family having an everlasting companionship and friendship and togetherness, and their parental, filial, brotherly, and friendly relations continuing for all eternity in a limitless life, and their believing this. One says, for example: “My wife will be my constant companion in an everlasting world and eternal life. It does not matter if she is now old and ugly, for she will have an immortal beauty.” He will tell himself that he will be as kind and devoted as he can for the sake of that permanent companionship, and treat his elderly wife lovingly and kindly. A companionship that was to end in eternal separation after an hour or two of brief, apparent friendship would otherwise afford only superficial, temporary, feigned, animal-like feelings, and false compassion and artificial respect. As with animals, self-interest and other overpowering emotions would prevail over the respect and compassion, transforming that worldly paradise into Hell.
The sociologists, politicians, and moralists, who govern mankind and are concerned with its social and moral questions should be aware of this! How do they propose to fill this vacuum? With what can they cure these deep wounds?
…
FOURTH TRUTH
The Gate of Generosity and Beauty,
the Manifestation of the Names of Generous and Beautiful
I don't care about McCain or Republicans or Democrats. Greenhouse gas emissions need to stop. To have a respectable standard of living we need to electrify and power it with wind, solar, water, and st9rage. And it increasingly looks like the United States Constitution as amended and interpreted is incapable of solving this problem or the several others that are plaguing the people of the United States in the 21st century.
Or the people of the United States are incapable
Extremist ideas always lose, as they should.
How 'bout proposing scaling the Build Back Better bill down from $3.5T to $1.5T just by scaling it back from ten years to four years, keeping all the provisions in place, thus at least getting it started and allowing the people to decide whether to cut it, extend it, or expand it?
reasonable perhaps, but i have a feeling manchin/exxon isn't going to allow any teeth
Yes, to Doug as well as to Bill, but by meeting his original monetary demand this could give us a stronger base from which to Bounce Back Better!
The problem is Manchin makes his fortune off of coal - roughly $500K/yr. He doesn't want anything that interferes with the way friends, family, and big contributors, make their money.
"Your continuing reminder that Biden could issue a slew of executive orders and regulations that completely fuck up the coal industry, say he’d be happy to sign a bill that fixes it, and FAR more than one Senator would smile and say “well gosh, I just don’t wanna vote for that”
https://twitter.com/AugustJPollak/status/1449491336063823878?s=20
"That Biden didn’t try—by all accounts his team has worked tirelessly to win Manchin’s support."
What accounts? Manchin sitting in the oval office and telling Biden to shove it?
We've heard from Manchin that no pressure was placed on him. We heard earlier in the year that no achievement was more important to the WH for future electoral success than bipartisan economic legislation (BIF). This strategy empowered Manchin and other conservative Dem senators to go as far to the right as they pleased and made BBB a stepchild.
Our best hope is to threaten Biden and the Dems with loss at the polls. Why make excuses for them?
Sadly that is not an empty threat.
What is immediately threatening the Democratic party is broken promises to voters, the appearance of corruption and weakness in the face of rising fascism. By permitting those threats to its own power it has increased the chances that the descent into climate catastrophe will be largely managed (i.e. accelerated and exploited) by the far right.